by Phil Polizatto | WWH– When it was suggested I write an article on scrubbing the internet, I replied, “What the fuck is that?” The answer was, “Google it!” So I did.

Up came so many sites about “Scrubbing the Internet,” I felt as if I had been held captive in a dark room this whole time, solitary confinement, no visitors allowed, no information to be shared. I felt stupid and naïve like I did a couple of years ago when someone asked me in an email if they could “friend” me on Facebook and I had no idea what they were talking about! I quickly learned. And now I have learned what “scrubbing” means. So depress me more, while I do the same to you!

“Scrubbing” the internet occurs in a number of ways. It can be revisionist history, revisionist reality, disinformation, mutated perceptions, and outright lies. I may be biased, but it seems like it is mainly a malicious hobby of the right wing and their new breed of young, tech-savvy, tea baggers. But for all I know, the left does the same. I would like to believe they don’t. I would like to believe that the left is more moral and ethical. But I can’t prove it. All I can prove is that “scrubbing” exists. This means that for all those times someone has told you “you can’t trust mainstream news,” they can now add, “you can’t trust the alternative news, either.” Whoopee! Doesn’t that make you feel just so very warm and fuzzy all over?

This topic could be a textbook and not an article, so I will just give you my personal experience with “scrubbing,” and some possible ways to detect it and the available resources I have found to be the most useful.read more…